THUNDER BAY, ON - November 4, 2008 - Grades 5 and 6 students at St. John’s Catholic School in Red Lake learned all about biodiversity and the components of the environment from two Ministry of Natural Resources Red Lake District staff members on October 28, 2008.

Robert Partridge, a forester, spoke to the students about trees and their ecology while Renee Bausch, a biologist, spoke about vertebrates including their different classes, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds, and how they differ.  Afterwards, the students went on a nature walk to test their knowledge.

Quotes

“I brought in different tree cookies to show the students how to count the age of a tree from the rings,” said Robert Partridge, MNR Red Lake District Area Forester.  “I also brought in samples of deciduous and coniferous trees to show the students the differences, as well as local and exotic pine cones.  When we went on a nature walk we discussed the importance of trees and maintaining an accurate forest inventory. One inventory item we need is tree age. So, by using the increment borer, the students learned how to take tree core samples, which are used to age trees by counting the rings. In addition, we learned the sizes of the rings tell us whether the tree had a good, average or bad growing year.”

“To facilitate my talk about vertebrates, I brought a stuffed wolverine, a stuffed hawk owl, a live iguana, a live turtle and some fish,” said Renee Bausch, MNR Biologist Intern.  “On the nature walk we played a vertebrate game where the kids had to find components that make up their class using flash cards.  For example, for mammals they had to find warm blood, live young, fur or hair for skin and lungs for breathing.  For fish, they had to find cold blood, eggs, scales for skin and gills for breathing.”

“Thank you for bringing science alive,” said Tom Doherty, St. John’s Catholic School Grades 5 and 6 teacher.   “The hands-on activities were fantastic and the students really enjoyed seeing Iglesias, the iguana, and Nelson, the turtle.  The students are looking forward to planting trees with Ministry of Natural Resources staff in the spring.”

”I am supposed to write about five things I learned today,” said Jay Muller, St. John’s Catholic School Grades 6 student.  “I learned about some things that the Ministry of Natural Resources does, like teaching school classes about nature.  The best thing I learned was how you can take a sample of a tree and find out its age.  I learned that pine cones have seeds.  I never knew that before.  I also learned a new way to play hide and seek.  The morning went by fast and I wish that we could have learned more.  I would like to know more about what MNR workers do.  I am hoping we can come back for a whole day next time.”

I would like to thank you for the great time and teaching us about biodiversity, mammals, fish, birds, scales, their differences, and all of the fun games we did,” said Cody Clement, St. John’s Catholic School Grades 6 student.  “We should do that more often.”